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“It wasn’t an accusation.”

“Well, it was hardly a compliment. You make me out as a pompous prig.”

“No, I—”

He cut her off with a wave of his hand. “I’m not perfect. I’m far from it.”

Liar, Liar.

But she kept her lips clamped shut and let him have his say. Though it was hard. She needed out of there, because he was everything she’d said he was, and this close, he did weird shit to her insides.

“And I believed we were right for each other.”

“You didn’t come after me.” As soon as the words were out, she wanted to snatch them back. They sounded like an accusation, and they made her sound pathetic, and until she’d spoken them out loud, she hadn’t realized how much that little fact had rankled.

He hadn’t come after her. He’d told her he loved her, and then he’d let her walk away as though she didn’t matter. If he had really loved her, he would have hunted her down, and found her, and thrown her across his horse, and galloped into the sunset to live happily ever after.

Like in a fucking fairy tale.

He was her prince, even if she had been the wicked witch in disguise rather than the princess she had pretended to be. But he hadn’t known that, and he’d still let her go.

Had she mentioned pathetic?

But she’d always been a dreamer.

At least he had the grace to look a little bit uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat, and then took a deep breath. “After you left, I was in shock, I suppose. And I truly believed you would get over your doubts and come back to me. And as time stretched out, I maybe got a little angry. You left me two lines. Two fucking lines.I can’t marry you. You don’t love me.What the fuck was with that?”

His facade was cracking, but as she watched, he wrapped it around himself like a cloak, and the anger faded from his features. “Ineededyou to come back. I couldn’t have been so wrong about us. I don’t make those sort of mistakes.” He gave a small shrug. “And I was busy. I threw myself into the company. We were having some issues—a hostile takeover attempt.” And she could guess who had been behind that. “I hardly had time to think, but I still believed you would come back.”

“Sorry.” What else could she say?

“But when I thought I might die trapped by the flames in that ship, it was your face I saw, and afterward in the life boat, I vowed I would come and find you and ask you why you’d left. Prove to you that I do loveyou.”

For a moment she wished he could—or rather, he did. But it would never happen. He didn’t loveher,just the woman she had pretended to be. But how she longed to be that woman.

Or maybe not.

What she really longed for was that Vito had seen past the actress to the real woman beneath. Then again, if that was the case, he would never have fallen in love.

“And now you’ve realized that you don’t,” she said.

“No.” He sounded emphatic. Too emphatic, as though he was trying to convince himself as much as her. He was lying.

“I think the sex has muddled your mind.”

He caught her gaze and held it. “Then no more sex until this is resolved.”

Her brows drew together. “It’s not resolved?”

“Not by a long way.” He reached across and took her hand. The move caught her by surprise, and she didn’t pull back. The stroke of his long fingers over her palm sent shivers up her arm. “I believe my Gabrielle is under there somewhere.”

Oh, no, she’s not.

“I believe you’ve built me up into some sort of paragon that you can’t live up to, but that’s not who I am.”

Want to bet?

“I think you should give me a chance to prove to you that I’m just an ordinary man.”